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T O P I C R E V I E W

Robert Pearlman

From a Swann Galleries press release:

quote:Swann Galleries' Tuesday, November 9 auction, which offers Autographs in just about every collecting category, is especially strong in Americana. As always, there are autographs of Presidents, statesmen, military figures, scientists, writers, artists, musicians, and entertainers. This sale also offers a section of astronauts' autographs.

[snip]

Items from the collection of astronaut Buzz Aldrin are featured in the section on space exploration, including a flown U.S. flag from Apollo 11, the first lunar landing flight, signed and inscribed by Aldrin, saying in part, "This flag traveled to the Moon . . ." ($22,000 to $28,000); and a flown Apollo 11 postal cover signed by Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins, Webster, Texas, 11 August 1969 ($20,000 to $25,000).

[snip]

The auction will begin at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 9. The items will be on public exhibition Thursday, November 4 and Friday, November 5, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday, November 6, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Monday, November 8, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

An illustrated catalogue, with information on bidding by mail or fax, is available for $25 from Swann Galleries, 104 East 25 Street, New York, NY 10010, and can also be viewed online at www.swanngalleries.com. Bids can also be submitted by e-mail via the website.

For further information, and to make advance arrangements to bid by telephone during the auction, please contact Jeremy Markowitz, Americana Specialist, at (212) 254-4710, extension 27, or at jmarkowitz@swanngalleries.com.

SRB

The result of the Swann auction have now been posted on the Swann website. The two main lots, the Apollo 11 flown flag and the Apollo 11 flown cover did not sell. Here are the results for the Space related lots, without the 15% buyer premium:

Robert and Steve,Thank you for information.It is interesting to see that an Apollo 11 flown signed cover is not sold for 20,000.00 $ minimum bid. It seems, prices go down steadily.

Take care,Walter

Michael

Hello Everbody, I was at the auction to get something else not space related and was surprised when the flown flag to the moon signed by Buzz and from his collection got up to 14,000 and than passed. I was wondering why prices are going down......maybe too many of them. How many flags did he bring with him...just asking????

spaced out

I guess it's simply a question of supply and demand. How many space-nuts are there out there with $20k+ to spend on a flown Apollo 11 flag? Compare that with the number of flown Apollo 11 flags that have been offered in the last few years and it seems the supply has outstripped the demand. The same goes for pretty-much all flown items.

The result has to be either lower prices or items going unsold. Few sellers (astronauts or others) are willing to accept that their items are worth less than similar items sold in years gone by so I guess we're going to see more stuff failing to meet reserves.

As for how many flags were flown per mission, it's something that's been discussed before but no-one knows the answers for sure.

fabfivefreddy

I think there seems to be many more flown Apollo 11 items than previously sought. As prices go up, people try to unload them for top dollar. These will remain great items to own, and one or two auction results is not indicative of a trend. I think it is fair to say that there are NOT a very select small number (e.g.10-12) of these items. Maybe others can shed some light on how many flown flags are out there. Keep in mind that we have not seen Armstrong's items yet, either.